China has solved the biggest case of theft of cultural relics since the establishment of People’s Republic of China in 1949. The Ministry of Public Security announced recently that the operation recovered 1,168 cultural relics and 175 looters were arrested.

The artefacts are believed to have been illegally excavated in Niuheliang, a Neolithic archaeological site in north-eastern Liaoning province. And the looters were said to be split into 10 gangs that were responsible for everything from the excavation to the selling of the relics.